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James Lamb, 53, targeted the victim specifically because of her ethnicity and “expressed desire to rid America of people like her,” the Deschutes County District Attorney said. Eugene, Oregon. (Rick Obst)

A Eugene man was charged with bias crime, attempted murder, and strangulation after assaulting a 70-year-old Indian immigrant at the motel she owns on Dec. 31.

James Lamb, 53, targeted the victim specifically because of her ethnicity and "expressed desire to rid America of people like her," the Deschutes County District Attorney said.

Lamb, who was staying as a guest at the Hub Motel in Redmond, approached the night window and asked to make a long distance call. The victim, who was the manager, told him to come back at in the morning, the Associated Press reported. Lamb then grabbed the woman's hair through the window, broke into the office, and attacked her, the A.P. report said.

The woman suffered multiple broken bones but is expected to make a recovery, the district attorney's office said.

"The victim of this unprovoked assault provided heroic testimony to the grand jury from her hospital bed," Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said in a statement. "Because of this woman's strength, and because the Oregon Legislature passed a law last year to strengthen Oregon's hate crime law, justice will be delivered in this case. Hate is not tolerated in Deschutes County."

This marks the second time in 2020 that an Oregon district attorney invoked the revised bias crime charge, which was updated last year for the first time since 1981.

On Jan. 3, the Multnomah County District Attorney charged 23-year-old Jasmine Campbell with bias crime for forcibly removing a Muslim woman's hijab, attempting to choke her with it and rubbing it across her genitals and breasts.

Tess Riski covers prisons, the alt-right movement and more. She has previously written for the Miami Herald, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Tess recently graduated from the Columbia Journalism School, where she was a Stabile fellow in investigative journalism. She is originally from Seattle.